


it was your heart on the line

by argenttmccall



Series: with a little help from my (super) friends [2]
Category: Daredevil (TV), Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Punisher (TV 2017)
Genre: Angst, Coda to The Punisher s2e11 Abyss, Drinking & Talking, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, F/M, Foggy Nelson & Karen Page Friendship, Foggy Nelson Is a Good Bro, Frank Isn't Actually In This But He Is Mentioned A Lot, Gen, Mid-s2 The Punisher, Post Daredevil S3
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-01
Updated: 2019-02-01
Packaged: 2019-10-20 05:39:29
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,175
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17616551
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/argenttmccall/pseuds/argenttmccall
Summary: Karen’s dollar store flip flops smack against the floor as she walks heavily up to her apartment on autopilot, visions of Frank’s injuries vivid in her mind.She pulls out her keys from her bag and brings her head up, only to stop short at the sight of Foggy leaning against her door, a bottle of scotch dangling from his hand.“Care for a drink?” Foggy asks with a tilt of his head, and Karen has to swallow against the sudden lump in her throat because of course he would know what she did. She nods silently, and he moves out of her way and follows her into the apartment.orKaren goes home after visiting Frank in the hospital.





	it was your heart on the line

**Author's Note:**

> i love Amy, i really do
> 
> but when she interrupted THAT moment between Frank and Karen, i probably could have killed her tbh.
> 
> also will someone please give Jon Bernthal his fucking emmy, thx.

Karen’s dollar store flip flops smack against the floor as she walks heavily up to her apartment on autopilot, visions of Frank’s injuries vivid in her mind.

She pulls out her keys from her bag and brings her head up, only to stop short at the sight of Foggy leaning against her door, a bottle of scotch dangling from his hand.

“Care for a drink?” Foggy asks with a tilt of his head, and Karen has to swallow against the sudden lump in her throat because _of course_ he would know what she did. She nods silently, and he moves out of her way and follows her into the apartment.

It’s all just as neat and tidy and organized as she had left it this morning, but somehow it seems like she’s stepping into a stranger’s home. Karen barely recognizes the cute furniture she had painstakingly picked out however long ago, desperately making sure that everything matched and looked good. How easy would it have been, really, to just...not come back?

Karen blinks, as she suddenly finds herself sitting on her couch with a drink in hand. Foggy plops down in the armchair next to her with a sigh and his own drink in hand, loosening his tie with the other hand. She takes a sip, and the alcohol helps steady her nerves, sort of.

“I thought for sure it would be Matt waiting for me, not you,” she finally says, and Foggy snorts.

“I talked him out of it. It...probably wouldn’t have been a good idea, anyway,” Foggy says with a shrug, and Karen gives him a small, grateful smile. He’s absolutely right, of course; they’d have absolutely gotten into a shouting match at some point.

“How’d you even know?” she asks, and he gives her a pointed stare.

“We saw the news. Called your cell, and you didn’t pick up. Wasn’t that hard to put two and two together.”

She can feel herself blush slightly, and takes another sip to distract herself.

“So, do I want to know what you were up to today?”

“Depends on if we still have attorney-client privilege.”

“We definitely do,” Foggy says with a sigh.

“Well, really, all I did was pull a couple of fire alarms,” she says with a lopsided smirk, and Foggy rolls his eyes at her.

“And the aiding and abetting a fugitive was just a coincidence?”

“I didn’t see a thing,” Karen says primly, and Foggy refills his glass with a shake of his head.

They lapse into silence again, and Karen pulls up her legs and tucks them underneath her. The weight of the entire day is finally pressing down on her, and she doesn’t know whether to cry or scream.

“How...was he?” Foggy asks quietly, and Karen sighs.

“Beat to shit. It’s a miracle he’s still in one piece,” she says, and has to close her eyes and take a breath before she actually bursts into hysterics. “And you know how he is, he can’t stay still for very long, or else god knows what’ll happen if Frank Castle isn’t there t-to save the d-day…”

Karen sniffs and wipes away her tears messily with the back of her hand, while Foggy hands her a handkerchief. She mutters her thanks as she wipes at her eyes, her heart breaking with every second that goes by.

“I just... _god_ , he just makes me so mad!” Karen exclaims tearily, her drink sloshing just a bit over. Foggy scrambles to grab some tissues and wipe it up, and Karen couldn’t care less. “He refuses to let himself _heal_ and _move on_ , and now he’s probably gonna go and get himself killed!”

“Do I even want to know what he’s been up to?” Foggy asks warily.

“No,” Karen replies shortly. Foggy just shrugs and leaves it at that.

“You and I both know what he’s been through…,” Foggy says tentatively, and Karen closes her eyes.

“I know, Foggy,” she says softly. “I’m not saying he needs to just ‘get over it’, or some stupid shit like that, god no. But Frank...he just keeps digging his grave deeper and deeper, and he doesn’t even want to consider getting out of it. He’s just traded one crusade for another, and he’s happy to see it to the end, even if it means it ends with his mind and body in pieces.”

Foggy shakes his head. “How familiar.”

Karen snorts and rubs her eyes wearily. She’s always refused to look too closely at the similarities between Matt and Frank, afraid of what it would say about her and her taste in men.

“I was so close to not coming home today,” Karen says, and Foggy looks at her with wide eyes.

“Excuse me?”

“I was just...ready. Ready to drop everything for him, to help him. Even if it meant…,” Karen trails off, glancing out of her window at the sound of police sirens blaring by. She hopes they’re not meant for him.

“I’m glad you didn’t,” Foggy says with a sad smile. “For starters, Matt would have followed you, and I would have had to follow him. And then they’d have probably started a fight that would have ended with half of New York in ruins.”

“Understatement,” Karen sighs. She drains her glass and sets it aside. “I just...I’m just tired of watching him walk out of my life.”

Foggy sighs, and puts his glass down on the coffee table. He moves to sit next to Karen on the couch. She slides down so that her head is resting on his shoulder, tears stinging her eyes. Her heart is broken, yet again, and she’s just so goddamn _tired_ of it.

“I just keep thinking, is tomorrow the day that they’re gonna find his body in the street? Or the day after that? Or the day after _that_? Because that’s what he’s headed towards, he and I both know that.”

“I think...that you might want to have a little more faith in him,” Foggy says softly. “Frank’s a survivor, always has been. You just gotta believe that he’ll get through this, even if it’s through sheer willpower and stubbornness. And honestly, he’s probably the only other person on Earth that’s more stubborn than Matt, and Matt survived being crushed by a building.”

Karen chuckles wetly, sniffing and dabbing at her tears. “You know I love you, right, Foggy?”

“Of course you do,” Foggy says with a kind smile. “Everyone does. And for the record, I love you too.”

He drops a kiss to the top of her head before reaching for the bottle to refill their glasses. Karen curls up even tighter next to Foggy. Her heart still hurts, and will for a long time. But it helps, feeling the warm press of a body next to her. It’s a reminder that she has people in this world that care about her, something that’s all too easy to forget.

She hopes that Frank remembers that he’s got people that care about him, too.

**Author's Note:**

> thank you for all of the love and support, it means the world! drop a comment, let me know what you think!
> 
> if you would like to hang out or offer any Defenders headcanons or ideas, here you go:
> 
> [argenttmccall.tumblr.com](https://argenttmccall.tumblr.com)


End file.
